Mrs. Fox-Cordery stared at her in astonishment, and Mr. Fox-Cordery nodded his head two or three times, and said:
"You observe a change in Charlotte. There was a time when she would not have dared to put her will in opposition to ours, but I think I shall be found equal to my duty as master of this house. I do not say I am perfect, but I know of what I am capable. I have had my crosses and disappointments; I have had my sorrows. I have them still. Let us, at least, have harmony in our home."
"Amen!" intoned Mrs. Fox-Cordery, with a reproachful look at Charlotte.
"There is but one way," continued Mr. Fox-Cordery, "to secure this harmony. By obedience to orders. I am the head of this house and family, and I will not be thwarted or slighted."
"I will support you, my love," said his mother, "in all ways."
"I never for a moment doubted you, mother. We will not be uncharitable to Charlotte; we will be, as we have ever been, tender and considerate toward her. She inherits a family characteristic which she turns to a wrong account. Tenacity is an excellent quality, but when it is in alliance with intense selfishness, it is productive of great mischief. I am not a hard man; my nature is tender and susceptible, and I am easily led. Convince me that I am wrong in any impression I have formed, and I yield instantly. I learn from Charlotte, mother, that she has been in the habit of meeting Mr. Dixon during the last year in a clandestine and secret manner."
Before Mrs. Fox-Cordery could express her horror at this revelation, Charlotte interposed:
"Fox is misrepresenting me. What I told him was that Mr. Dixon and I have seen each other several times. We have not met secretly or clandestinely."
"You met without our knowledge or sanction," said Mr. Fox-Cordery, "and it comes to the same thing."
"Quite the same thing," assented his mother.